I discovered that I am not skilled enough using Helicon focus to control 'noise' probably caused by small differences in the images from branches moving in the wind. I was trying to get the entire duck sharp but keep the background blurred by using f/2.2 images combined in the software but I prefer the straight f/8 version lacking artifacts. Perhaps some of the many controls in Helicon Focus would correct this but I don't know how.

Original background was replaced with one of the parent image backgrounds (the softest) which did a lot to correct the objectional noise in this small image. There is still some on the bird in the full size image but this was a good idea. Thanks, Brian!